1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image document creation apparatus provided so as to be connectable to a plurality of image forming apparatuses on a network, and more specifically relates to an image document creation apparatus, a method for printing an image document, a program for printing an image document, and a recording medium capable of selecting as a printing target apparatus an image forming apparatus with a small color difference from colors included in document data and/or image data, and capable of notifying a user of a color gamut insufficiency when the color difference exceeds an allowable range.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, systems and methods have been proposed with a configuration such that when all of the colors included in print data are not supported in the color gamut of an image forming apparatus used to print that print data, a user is notified of a color gamut insufficiency (for example, see JP 2004-5385A).
In such a system, in an image forming apparatus capable of printing print data, the color gamut included in the print data and the color gamut that the image forming apparatus is capable of expressing are compared, and when one or more of identified colors are not included in the color gamut possessed by the image forming apparatus, the user is notified of that fact. More specifically, whether or not colors that can be expressed by the image forming apparatus are included in the print data is determined from whether or not the colors are included in the absolute color gamut of a color profile, the user is notified of the result of this determination, and the user is caused to select whether or not to print the print data.
However, with the technique described in above JP 2004-5385A, not only when there is a large difference between the colors included in the print data and the colors expressed with the image forming apparatus, but also when a difference between the colors included in the print data and the colors expressed with the image forming apparatus is somewhat allowable, or when the difference is of a level that is indistinguishable with human eyesight, the user is likewise notified that a color included in the print data is not included in the color gamut that can be expressed with the image forming apparatus. Thus, there is the problem that the user must decide themselves every time whether or not to print, even when there is no obstacle to printing as-is, such as when the difference between the colors included in the print data and the colors expressed with the image forming apparatus is an allowable difference, or when the difference is of a level that is indistinguishable with human eyesight. Furthermore, in this case the user is only notified that at least one of the colors included in the print data is not included in the color gamut that the image forming apparatus can express, and the user cannot know in a perceptual manner the extent of the difference from appearance (i.e., whether the difference is of an extent that the user can allow). Thus, there is the problem that when the extent of the color difference is judged when printing, the user does not know the extent of the difference between colors printed with the image forming apparatus and colors included in the print data unless the print data is actually printed out.